On the morning of the 18th, Huo Ranyin received a report from the lab. From the leaf Ji Xun had sent over yesterday, they had urgently extracted something entirely new—new DNA and nylon fibers.
The nylon fibers had some white paint on them. The trace evidence technicians speculated that the killer might have worn a common pair of nylon anti-static gloves to prevent leaving fingerprints at the scene. The paint did not match the materials used in the crime scene’s renovation, suggesting the killer had picked it up elsewhere.
As for the DNA, it belonged to Tang Jinglong’s wife, Rao Fangjie.
Rao Fangjie was once again summoned to the police station.
The woman in her forties was just as she had been at the entrance of Sunshine Hospital: exquisitely made-up, impeccably dressed, with a diamond-studded hairnet holding her bun, and gemstone earrings dangling below her ears. The sparkle of these jewels was all part of her mature and successful womanly charm.
This time, Huo Ranyin interrogated her personally.
“The police have new evidence,” Huo Ranyin said. “Confess truthfully.”
“I don’t understand what I need to confess.” Rao Fangjie sat perfectly upright, her expression composed, as if she were not in an interrogation room but at an industry conference, about to give a speech. “I’ve already said everything I needed to last time. I did impulsively send her harassing messages and followed her in my car, but I never had any face-to-face contact with her, nor did I take any more extreme actions—I think, for a wife facing a mistress, I’ve handled it well enough.”
On the night Xi Lei’s body was discovered, the police had found through communication records and community surveillance that Xi Lei had been harassed with “call bombing” and a suspicious vehicle on the 5th, 6th, and 7th.
By checking the license plate, they located Rao Fangjie and subsequently discovered the affair between Xi Lei and Tang Jinglong.
At that time, when questioning the couple about their alibi, they produced various proofs of their out-of-town trip. Therefore, the interrogation was temporarily suspended while the police gathered more information—until now.
“In your previous statement and this one, you have consistently claimed that you never had any direct contact with Xi Lei.”
“Correct.”
“After Tang Jinglong learned that you had discovered his affair, he apologized to you on the 7th. On the 8th, you went on a trip together, intending to repair your marriage through this trip.”
“That’s right.”
“Then please explain,” Huo Ranyin said coldly, “why your DNA was found in Xi Lei’s home.”
A heavy blow stunned the woman. Rao Fangjie blurted out, “That’s impossible!”
“Impossible? What’s impossible? Impossible that we found your DNA?” Tan Mingjiu immediately chimed in, his speech suddenly becoming so fast that it was impossible to react. “Ms. Rao, have you ever heard the saying? People can lie, but evidence doesn’t!”
“I was out of town when she died!”
“Transportation is so advanced now. A distance of a few hundred kilometers is only a four or five-hour drive. Being out of town is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Intentionally planning a trip to create an alibi for a premeditated murder is completely plausible, isn’t it?” Tan Mingjiu said.
“I didn’t kill anyone, I never had any direct contact with Xi Lei. My DNA being in Xi Lei’s home is only possible because of the Locard’s exchange principle—” Rao Fangjie said loudly, flustered.
“Well, well,” Tan Mingjiu chuckled. “An intellectual, you even know about Locard’s exchange principle. So you’re saying this DNA was carried to Xi Lei’s home by your husband and accidentally left there, is that right? Well, that’s a big problem!”
“The medium on which the DNA was found was purchased by Xi Lei after you and your husband went on your trip together. How did your DNA, using Tang Jinglong as a transfer medium, cross the distance of several cities and fly into Xi Lei’s home?” Huo Ranyin clasped his hands, leaning forward. “During this trip, were you and your husband together every single moment, inseparable? You should know that besides a few receipts with only specific time points, most of Tang Jinglong’s alibi is vouched for by you!”
A look of bewilderment froze on Rao Fangjie’s face.
The suspect’s mental defense had been breached.
Huo Ranyin added the final stone, “What is the maximum sentence for harboring a criminal under the law?”
“Ten years,” Tan Mingjiu and Huo Ranyin sang in unison. “Life is short and bitter, how many decades does one have? Ms. Rao, our colleagues have already arrived in Zhoushi and are cooperating with the local police to investigate your movements. In two hours, they will have a clear picture of your surveillance footage along the way. You have status, wealth, and a child. You’re beautiful and in your prime. You need to think carefully about what to do.”
“…Am I beautiful?” Rao Fangjie suddenly said.
She raised her hand to brush back a strand of hair at her temple.
Of course, she was beautiful. Her face was heart-shaped, her dark hair like a cloud, her skin as white as snow. She was at the age where a fruit has shed its greenness and is fully ripe. No matter how tightly the peel covered it, it couldn’t hide the sweet, fragrant aroma that emanated from its core, attracting bees and butterflies.
She gave Huo Ranyin a charming smile.
“Officer, you’ve seen Xi Lei too. Would you rather sleep with Xi Lei, or with me?”
Tan Mingjiu choked on a mouthful of tea.
He didn’t even dare to peek at Huo Ranyin’s expression and slammed the table, scolding, “Is this the place for you to spout nonsense? If you keep this up, we’ll detain you for three days to clear your head!”
“Don’t be hasty,” the smile on Rao Fangjie’s face turned cold. “If I’m to confess, I should start from the beginning, right? I didn’t lie. Tang Jinglong apologized to me, and we went on a trip. But the trip wasn’t so sweet. We argued again midway.”
“Did you choose the location for the trip?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“…No, Tang Jinglong chose it.”
“What day did you argue?”
“The morning of the 11th.”
“And then? Continue.”
“After the argument, Tang Jinglong and I separated. I went to a bar to get drunk and fooled around with a man I didn’t know in a hotel for a day and a night. It’s his lack of taste that he likes Xi Lei. But me, I’m beautiful. Plenty of men want a night with me. I have that man’s phone number. If you need to, you can contact him for verification. As for Tang Jinglong, I don’t know,” Rao Fangjie said all at once, then suddenly asked, “Is the testimony confidential?”
But before Huo Ranyin and Tan Mingjiu could speak, she gave a sarcastic smile, the tips of her crescent-moon eyebrows raised slightly.
“Forget it, it doesn’t matter if it’s not confidential. These messy affairs will eventually reach the ears of neighbors and friends. They’ll gossip about you behind your back as much as they can. And you, well, you probably won’t get a divorce. You’ll just pretend you don’t know. Life has to go on.”
This interrogation yielded entirely new information. On the crucial day of Xi Lei’s death, the 11th, Tang Jinglong and Rao Fangjie were not together at all! Huo Ranyin was almost certain of Tang Jinglong’s guilt.
However, two hours later, Wen Yangyang, who had gone to Zhoushi, sent back a message. At 6:23 PM on the 11th, an elevator surveillance camera in Zhoushi captured Tang Jinglong entering and exiting. The forensic examiner estimated that Xi Lei’s time of death was between 9-11 PM on the 11th. Zhoushi is an hour and a half flight, a five-hour high-speed train ride, or an eight-hour private car drive from Ning City. There were no records of Tang Jinglong taking a high-speed train or plane that day, and if he had chosen to drive, he wouldn’t have been able to make it in time for Xi Lei’s murder.
At the time of Xi Lei’s death, Tang Jinglong was indeed out of town and had no time to commit the crime.
Tang Jinglong was not the murderer.
Huo Ranyin was very disappointed.
Huo Ranyin wasn’t the only one disappointed. When they gathered for a meeting and all the clues were compiled, eighty percent of the Second Detachment collapsed. Half from disappointment, half from exhaustion.
There’s a rule of thumb in criminal investigation that divides cases into three types based on time. The first is a “hot case,” a case that just occurred within 72 hours, which is also the easiest time to solve a case. The second is a “warm case,” a case between three days and a month old. The third is a “cold case,” which is over a month old, and the difficulty of solving it skyrockets.
Today was the seventh day after Xi Lei’s death, and it had been five days since the body was discovered.
You have to know, apart from a bit of Rao Fangjie’s DNA on the leaf, and the large amount of Tang Jinglong’s traces on the pillowcase used to suffocate Xi Lei and on items the killer likely touched as inferred from the scene reconstruction, the suspect they had focused their investigation on had now been proven innocent. It was like running a marathon, thinking you were about to reach the finish line, only to find you had taken a wrong turn and were back in the middle. Now they had to face a suspect who was incredibly meticulous at the primary crime scene, leaving no biological evidence, which would inevitably consume a large amount of manpower and resources to reinvestigate and identify a new suspect.
“Adjust our direction.” After just a few minutes, Huo Ranyin spoke again, assigning tasks. “Rao Fangjie’s DNA appeared in Xi Lei’s house. We can’t rule out that Rao Fangjie committed the murder. Just in case, have Wen Yangyang, who is in Zhoushi, continue to investigate Rao Fangjie’s movements. Focus on investigating this couple’s social circle, financial flows, and spending records. Consider the possibility of a hired killer… Also, compare this with the flower shop clue to see if there are any overlaps. No matter who the killer is, since Rao Fangjie’s DNA appeared at the scene, he at least was near Rao Fangjie at some point.”
The police investigation hit a wall and changed direction.
Ji Xun’s side, however, was going relatively smoothly. Lu Danying was dead, so there would be a funeral. The timing of the funeral was also a coincidence: the 21st of this month.
Two days later, on the 23rd, would be Xi Lei’s funeral.
Over the next few days, Ji Xun first went to Lu Danying’s funeral, and then to Xi Lei’s.
Xi Lei’s funeral was held in the countryside, a village not far from Ning City. If one hadn’t come here in person, it would be hard to believe that just a four-hour drive away, one could arrive at a place with no schools, no hospitals, and even difficulty with daily water supply.
The mourning hall was set up in her home.
It was noisy everywhere. Probably everyone from the village had come. They gathered in groups of two and three in the middle of the small courtyard, chatting about daily trifles, work worries, and also about the person in the coffin.
It’s livelier when a person is dead.
Ji Xun didn’t join the crowd. After he sent Xia Youqing inside, he stayed in a corner of the outer courtyard.
This corner had a view of the front and back gates of the courtyard and was directly opposite the external staircase of the three-story building. He could see clearly whoever came in or out.
The sound of thudding footsteps came.
A group of young boys ran down from upstairs.
The one in the lead bore a three-tenths resemblance to Xi Lei; it was her younger brother. He was much taller than Xi Lei, around 175 cm, wearing a plain, cheap tracksuit, but on his feet was a pair of the highly popular Yeezy Boost 350s, with a retail price of 1200, scalped to 12000.
He was holding a phone in his hand.
The phone was an Apple 6s Plus, released last September, priced at 6888.
Both items were brand new, probably bought in the last two days.
After a brief assessment, Ji Xun withdrew his gaze. The sound of a car engine turning off came from outside. A moment later, a carved stone tablet was carried through the open courtyard gate. It was Xi Lei’s tombstone.
The tombstone was not small. Besides the main body with the engraved name, there was also a fence around it.
At least 30,000 yuan, not cheap.
It was completely out of place with the simple surroundings of the mourning hall, not seeming like the work of the same person.
Ji Xun thought.
The gossip from the side confirmed his thoughts:
“Old Xi bought such a nice tombstone, why is he not even willing to hand out a single cigarette?”
“He’s the kind of miser who would buy a three-cent moldy egg over a five-cent good egg. How could he be willing to pay this price? Teacher Cheng got the tombstone.”
“Tsk, no relation, why spend so much money on a girl?”
“How is there no relation? She was Teacher Cheng’s first student. In ancient times, didn’t they say the relationship between a teacher and student is also like that of a father and daughter?”
You could hear anything at a funeral. Ji Xun thought of Lu Danying’s funeral.
Xi Lei’s funeral was a bit more unconventional, with the men doing the gossiping. At Lu Danying’s funeral, the role of whispering was, by convention, played by middle-aged women.
They gossiped:
“How did she die so young?”
“I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone else. They say she was pregnant and fell in the bathroom. Both the mother and baby were gone.”
“Oh my, her husband must be so heartbroken. Why haven’t I seen her husband?”
“Husband? She didn’t even have a boyfriend! But at least she left behind an apartment. I wonder if she earned it by being a mistress. If you don’t love yourself, karma will come for you.”
…
“Ji Xun?”
A voice from ahead called back Ji Xun’s wandering thoughts. He looked forward and saw Xia Youqing.
Compared to her pale face and somewhat shaky appearance when she went in, the current Xia Youqing seemed to have let go of a huge boulder. Not only were her steps lighter, but there was also a layer of color on her face.
“Let’s go,” Xia Youqing said.
“Leave now?” Ji Xun asked. “The funeral hasn’t officially started.”
“Yes, let’s go now.” Xia Youqing nodded gently. “There’s no need to stay any longer. What needed to be done is done.”
Ji Xun did as Xia Youqing said and took her to leave.
Xi Lei’s mother was guarding the entrance of the small courtyard. She was a tall woman who looked quite masculine, not at all like the petite Xi Lei—Xi Lei resembled her father. This tall woman’s husband was a small, thin man.
She bowed to everyone who came in, “Hello, thank you for coming to see Xi Lei off.”
When Ji Xun and Xia Youqing were about to leave, she still bowed, “Hello, thank you for making the long trip.”
Again and again, her back bent, her head bowed.
Like a battery-operated robot, tirelessly repeating the same action.
They left the courtyard.
As Ji Xun was starting the car, he suddenly saw a man with glasses. He was hiding behind a tree.
In winter, the leaves of the trees had all fallen, and the bare, slanted branches were like arms stretching towards the sky. The knots on the trunk below were like eyes peeking out from within.
The man in grey clothes leaned against these knots, his back almost merging with them.
He was holding a stack of things in his hand.
It was a pile of award certificates, a large red flower, and a black and white photograph.
The glasses on his nose were fogged up, and his face was hidden behind the fog.
“Ji Xun, did you know?” Xia Youqing’s faint voice came from behind. “Lei Lei once held a funeral for me.”
Ji Xun’s hand slipped, he turned the ignition too far, and the starting car stalled. He looked in the rearview mirror. Xia Youqing was leaning her elbow on the window, her fingertips against her forehead, her gaze distant, recalling a past event.
This past event was not hard to recall. It had left a deep impression on her.
So she quickly began to speak, “…I hadn’t known Lei Lei for long then, and I was still very emotionally unstable. One night, Lei Lei suddenly sent me a message, asking if I wanted to try holding a funeral. I agreed.”
“We bought a coffin, set up a mourning hall, and even invited people. Yes, we invited people like it was a farce. Everyone else treated it as a joke, and no one came. In the end, the only guests were Lei Lei and my baby.”
“Thinking back now, that absurd funeral was actually very warm. Because I was facing my already dead self, I could suddenly discuss how to live without any inhibitions. Things I usually didn’t dare to say, didn’t want to face, I could say them all freely there. So you faced yourself, you accepted yourself, you became lighter.”
“You are not perfect.”
“Even ugly.”
“But you still want to hold on a little longer, try a little harder, change a little more. A little bit is great.”
Xia Youqing paused for a long time here.
“Perhaps because I had held such a funeral, I know what Lei Lei wants. She wants to stay in Ning City, not come back here. We even chose adjacent burial plots together. She also doesn’t want it to be like this, with unrelated people discussing unrelated things… I’m so sorry that in the end, I still couldn’t fulfill her wishes.”
“It’s enough,” Ji Xun said. The woman in the rearview mirror had tears in her eyes at some point and looked at him in a panic.
After a brief silence, he said again:
“It’s enough. Lei Lei knows what you’re thinking, she will be happy.”
She will be happy.
How many people in this world hold funerals, living as the most distant strangers with their closest relatives, only to find out at the moment of death that they actually knew nothing about the deceased family member.
After that, no one spoke for the rest of the journey. The only sound in the car was the metal pendant on the key, swinging back and forth like a pendulum as the car moved forward, its red cord worn and faded.
After another few hours of driving, and after dropping Xia Youqing home, Ji Xun received an unexpected call. It was from Yuan Yue’s mother. The old lady was currently in Ning City, here to visit a grave.
Funerals, bodies, grave-visiting.
Why was today so inseparable from death?
Ji Xun forced himself to go see the old lady. He knew he wasn’t in a good state, but Yuan Yue’s mother was an old-school lady, who had even studied abroad in her early years, seen the world, and everything about her was gentle and subtle. Throughout their meeting, she was smiling and caring, not asking any questions that Ji Xun couldn’t answer.
When they parted, Ji Xun was holding a thermal flask. Inside was freshly made chicken soup. Yuan Yue’s mother said it was for him—but you could tell with your knees it wasn’t. It was most likely for Yuan Yue, but seeing his poor complexion today, she had given it to him instead.
But of course, he couldn’t take what was meant for Yuan Yue. So he wandered over to the station again.
Bad timing.
When he arrived, not only was Yuan Yue not there, but the entire First Detachment was gone. The main door was locked tight.
He looked left and right and grabbed a passing Tan Mingjiu. “Where are the people from the First Detachment?”
Tan Mingjiu was now used to Ji Xun’s appearing and disappearing act. “They’re all out on a mission. There’s a dismemberment case in Wushan. Captain Yuan took the entire First Detachment out. The situation at the scene is probably complicated.”
“This…”
Ji Xun was about to ask Tan Mingjiu to hold onto the chicken soup for him, but before he could even hand over the flask, the other’s eyes lit up, his dog-like nose already sniffing. He became wary and pulled his elbow back.
“Open an interrogation room for me. I’m going to take a nap. Call me when Yuan Yue gets back.”
“Why waste time? Give me the flask, I’ll keep it safe,” Tan Mingjiu tried to persuade him repeatedly. “Are you worried I’ll lose something this big?”
“Who’s worried you’ll lose it? I’m worried you’ll ‘keep it safe’ in your stomach.”
Ji Xun snorted and kicked Tan Mingjiu to hurry up and open the door.
Tan Mingjiu reluctantly did so.
The interrogation room door opened and closed. Tan Mingjiu thoughtfully turned off the camera for Ji Xun. Ji Xun didn’t even turn on the light. In the darkness, he propped himself up on the table with one hand, using the table as a bed, and lay down directly.
The darkness pressed down like water.
He closed his eyes in the darkness, his thoughts stretching out unboundedly. Several bodies and the mourning halls where they were placed circled in his mind, circling, circling, and then changed form.
The mourning hall was still a mourning hall.
The coffins inside became three.
He changed from an observer to the host.
The surroundings were still a bustling crowd, the crowd murmuring the same idle gossip.
“Why are there three bodies? Was there a car accident?”
“Not a car accident, it was a family massacre.”
“Ah, how tragic. Probably retaliation for being a cop. The killer is truly insane.”
“…You don’t know… you can’t say insane… it was a spiritual possession…”
Understanding is a very precious thing. Xia Youqing would never know how enviable her understanding of Xi Lei was.
Ji Xun once thought he knew everything, but in the end, standing in his family’s mourning hall, he realized he knew nothing at all.
A heavy stone was tied to his heart, his stomach, pulling him all the way down.
He held his breath in the tide of memory.
Sinking, sinking, all the way to the dark bottom of the water… until a cold hand pierced the water’s surface, probing near his nose.
The memory suddenly became chaotic. Ji Xun returned from the past to reality, his body tensing abruptly. He raised his hand and grabbed the hand that had silently approached him, pulling hard!
“Ugh—”
The person who had silently come to Ji Xun’s side was pulled down, letting out a surprised grunt. Ji Xun’s other hand was already preparing to lock the person’s neck, but at that moment, he realized who it was.
The hand that was about to grab the person’s neck slid down, from the back of the neck into the hair. Ji Xun pressed the back of the person’s head, pushing them against his ear.
“…It’s Captain Huo.”
Ji Xun said lazily.
Their chests were pressed together. The vibration caused by one person speaking was transmitted so smoothly to the other’s chest. Huo Ranyin felt the tremor of Ji Xun’s voice—and his breath.
The breath from his words sprayed against his ear, like a hot net, trapping his ear.
Huo Ranyin’s heart began to tighten. He unconsciously held his breath like Ji Xun had before, not daring to breathe, worried that even the slightest extra movement would trigger a strange chain reaction.
“Is Captain Huo a cat? You don’t make a sound when you walk or open doors. Those who know would say you’re well-trained and leave no trace. Those who don’t know would think you’re tiptoeing around so quietly because you’re up to no good…”
“Am I the one who’s up to no good right now?” Huo Ranyin said pointedly.
“If you weren’t up to no good, would you not even dare to breathe?” Ji Xun lightly pointed out.
“…” Huo Ranyin realized he was still holding his breath.
Saying something was wrong, doing something was wrong, even breathing was wrong.
This thought flashed through his mind, and suddenly, a numbing sensation like an electric current ran through Huo Ranyin’s scalp.
He was stunned for a few seconds by the sudden stimulation before realizing that Ji Xun was rubbing his hair with his fingers. The other’s fingertips were weaving through his hair, combing it back and forth, one stroke after another, patiently and meticulously, occasionally accompanied by light or heavy pressure from his fingertips.
“That’s the logic, right, Captain Huo?” Ji Xun leisurely sought Huo Ranyin’s agreement, a hint of a smile audible in his voice.
Darkness makes one’s thoughts run wild.
Huo Ranyin was now having thoughts that would never have been possible in ample light. Ji Xun’s movements were too gentle. He even had an incredibly absurd feeling… that Ji Xun was hugging him, that Ji Xun liked him!
“Captain Huo, I have a question, and I hope you won’t hesitate to enlighten me. It’s the 23rd now, another 6 days have passed since I submitted the new clues, and the police still haven’t made a move. Are the clues I submitted useless, or has Tang Jinglong’s suspicion been completely ruled out and you’ve changed direction?”
The magic of the darkness dissipated.
Not a trace of ambiguity remained under Ji Xun’s words.
Huo Ranyin took a deep breath. “Have you touched enough? Any more and I’ll count it as assaulting an officer.”
Ji Xun obediently moved his hand away. “I wouldn’t dare, Captain Huo, calm down. I’m too busy protecting our people’s police to assault an officer.”
Huo Ranyin stood up straight, straightened his clothes, and smoothed his hair. “Rao Fangjie’s DNA was found on the leaf. Tang Jinglong was indeed far away in Zhoushi on the night of Xi Lei’s death, with no time to rush back and commit murder.”
“So what is the police’s line of thought now?”
Ji Xun asked. He felt Huo Ranyin glance at him, as if evaluating whether he could handle more information.
He passed the evaluation.
Huo Ranyin said, “Rao Fangjie hired a killer, or the killer murdered for Rao Fangjie.”
“That’s strange.”
“What’s strange?”
“At the death scene, Xi Lei’s hair was perfectly neat. She was suffocated to death, so she must have struggled before she died. Struggling would inevitably mess up her hair. Obviously, there’s only one explanation for her neat hair: the killer tidied the victim’s hair after killing her. Without some feeling, would a killer do something so laborious and unrewarding?” Ji Xun said.
“You touched my hair just now to say this?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“What else?”
“I thought you weren’t very interested in solving cases.”
“Ha, Captain Huo, don’t get it wrong. This isn’t solving a case, this is just a guessing game that I solved because I happened to think of it—” Ji Xun laughed. He felt it was about time. He propped himself up on the table, jumped off, and walked towards the exit of the interrogation room.
“Are you sure the person who killed her loved her?”
“It’s just a speculation—” Ji Xun shrugged. “That kind of mystical criminal psychological profiling. But my personal opinion is, this speculation is nine times out of ten correct. I was just tidying Captain Huo’s hair so carefully. Didn’t you feel it? It was love.”
“Are you implying the killer is still Tang Jinglong, and that Tang Jinglong used some method we haven’t thought of yet to get to the scene and commit the murder?” Huo Ranyin asked directly.
This direct question caught Ji Xun a bit by surprise. But he continued to talk nonsense without bounds.
“No, I’m not. The classic puzzle-box mystery is dead now. I haven’t come up with any methods. I’ve been forced to transition to the social school to make a living. I can spin a whole bunch of love-hate dramas at any time.” (*1)
The interrogation room was very quiet. Huo Ranyin was very silent, a silence like the calm before a storm.
Ji Xun suspected that the next moment, the other would rush up and bash his head in.
The suspicion did not become a reality. Huo Ranyin held back. “What new love-hate drama have you dug up? Was Xi Lei in an ambiguous relationship with a third man?”
“Tang Jinglong, Zeng Peng, plus a new ‘X’. The deceased couldn’t have handled so many people even if she split herself in two,” Ji Xun chuckled.
“We found multiple verification text messages on the deceased’s phone from the night of her death. Combined with the missing electronic devices at the scene, we deduced that Xi Lei had some data records that were very important to the killer,” Huo Ranyin said again.
“That’s not very strange either. Considering the killer still had feelings for the deceased—if there were feelings, why kill her? There must be a reason she had to be silenced. She saw something, knew something…”
“This isn’t strange, that isn’t strange. What is strange?” Huo Ranyin asked coldly.
The other was so aggressive that Ji Xun felt if he didn’t reveal the clue, he probably wouldn’t be able to leave this interrogation room.
Reading the situation, he said listlessly:
“Since the killer’s path is temporarily blocked, let’s change our thinking. I found out a little secret about the deceased—it’s very likely that Xi Lei knew about or was involved in a surrogacy incident.”
Lu Danying had three children in three years, with no man ever appearing by her side, and the children disappeared without a trace after birth. During this period, she bought a property. Other than making money from surrogacy, there was no other explanation.
And Xi Lei, who took care of her for two pregnancies in a row, became her friend, and was so patient and meticulous—could she have not noticed any clues?
__
Author’s Note:
Note 1: Honkaku and Social School
Honkaku: Divided into New Honkaku and Classic Honkaku. Classic Honkaku emphasizes fair play with clues and logic above all. Agatha Christie is the most typical example. Locked-room mysteries, snowed-in settings, etc., that are often heard of are common branches of Honkaku. Ellery Queen, one of the three giants of the Golden Age, had a habit of issuing a “Challenge to the Reader” after presenting all the clues and before the solution. New Honkaku will have a bunch of strange settings, like zombies or ghosts, but generally, the background is pre-disclosed as part of the deduction, also being fair play and traceable. Some writers in New Honkaku are more extreme, with particularly bizarre methods and a lazy approach to writing motives.
Social School: In contrast to Honkaku, it leans towards realism. In layman’s terms, it’s about how society creates certain tragic and sinful outcomes, reflecting various complex criminal psychologies. It uses murder as a medium to expose the ugliness of human nature/society.
A simple explanation of the more frequently asked questions by readers in the previous chapters:
A: There are two reasons why Ji Xun gave clues to Huo Ranyin.
One is that it’s easy for the police to investigate these clues. The other is that his casual speculation about the killer during his conversation with Huo Ranyin was directly overheard, leading to the subsequent conflict, which is indeed his fault. It wasn’t that Ji Xun subjectively and truly instigated Zeng Peng.
B: The leaf and Lu Danying
This chapter has explained everything.
